In a piece from Nikkei Asian review, it was reported that experts have testified to the UN that Kim Jong Un’s regime is sitting upon more than half a billion US dollars’ worth of Crypto. Clearly, there are plenty of reasons why the sanctions beleaguered nation would want to put in such a big effort to amass such a horde of coins. As the rest of the world has ramped up their opposition to nuclear testing on the Korean peninsula, so has the Korean leader sought ways to circumvent these restrictions. Let us not forgot that $670 million at today’s prices was a bag at one point, especially if Pyongyang was doing most of its hacking closer to the market peak.

As we reported before, North Korea looks to have had its hand in most of the hacking done around the world or at least a significant part of it. Lazarus, an infamous group, believed to be sponsored by Kim Jong Un himself, had their hands in a lot of wallets with the headline $530 million hack of Coincheck widely believed to have originated from in Korea. Here’s the quote from the UN,

“Virtual Currencies provide the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with more ways to evade sanctions, given that they are harder to trace, can be laundered many times and are independent from government regulation.”

Nuclear Capability Accelerates, Blame Boats not Bitcoin

Obviously, because of how the media operates, we know that Cryptocurrency is going to get all the hate for this one. Particularly given that nuclear capability has continued to accelerate and not diminish in the cash-strapped rogue state. Honestly, the whole concept that digital currency is terrible because dictators use it is an exhaustingly narrow-minded argument and hypocritical argument. Guess what else they use to preserve their autocracies? Computers, Cars, Weapons, I mean I could keep writing things for hours.

North Korea’s malfeasance isn’t just in Bitcoin and its affiliates. They are widely documented to run large smuggling rings, utilizing shipping, in particular, to help keep their country alive. No-one is talking about how boats help Kim Jong get around the trade barriers.

Kim Jong Un is Hodling on to his nuclear programme as sanctions fail to bite his empire of smuggling. Source: AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File

Propaganda is Pyongyang’s Real Weapon of Mass Destruction

So the critical point here is that economic sanctions as a tool of controlling dictators have become the preferred method. Why fly in with Apache helicopters when you can strangle a country with financial roadblocks. Well, this method might do a great job of keeping a conflict cold and avoiding actual military conflict, but in reality, all it does is prop up dictatorships. The problem is that sanctions hurt everyday people more than they hurt the leaders of a country. In practice all this does is give the regime leverage and a rallying point to cement their power. A weakened populous is easier to control, and you can make the sanction-ers into foreign devils.

North Korea has been doing this for years, but the tougher things get, the easier it is for him to say it’s the US’s fault. Usually, Kim Jong Un is just making stuff up. Misinformation is one of the biggest problems. As you can see in this video, North Koreans un-officially are not the giant haters they are portrayed to be.

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Conventional Sanctions Just Don’t Work

Worryingly, regulators will try to pin the success of Pyongyang in creating nuclear weapons on digital assets. The blame-game has already begun (warning: don’t click on that link unless you want to be really, really annoyed). It is a real shame as it is just so narrow-minded and obtuse a perspective. Firstly, there is the fact as we discussed before that economic sanctions are a blunt tool for this job. Bitcoin might have changed the game by providing a technological advancement, but that doesn’t mean you should hide your head in the sand and try and reverse time.

Imagine you are a European King 100 years or so ago. You are unhappy with a mad ruler somewhere, so you cut off their hay supply to stop them feeding their horses and traveling easily. Would you try and ban automobiles if the Andorrans shunned their horses for the new technology? You could try, but you’d have held back the world from major progress.

Secondly, by obsessing over the wrong things, North Korea does with its Cryptocurrency you ignore the fact that many people considered Bitcoin and other coins as an incredible lifeline. Just look at Venezuela. So many people managed to secure their livelihood by getting Bolivars into digital currency. Ask a man on the street about it, however, and he will probably say “Oh yeah, Maduro uses those to get around sanctions. #petro” or something annoying like that.

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Scary Stuff

Just look at this quote:

“30,296 with fatalities, killing 32,999 and injuring 2,239,000. About 2,000 children under 16 die every year.”

We need to ban this quickly right? Clearly, we need more education on how to stop this major threat to the US mainland. More than 2 million injured!

Guess what, Un and Maduro have access to this technology as well so be afraid. These are actually Tesla crash stats from last week (just kidding!) It was car crash statistics from the United States in 2010.

What about the Fiat?

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There are a lot of people with a lot to lose from Bitcoin’s success. North Korea might have been one of the bad guys who benefitted from its rise, but you can’t blame Cryptocurrency. Government use an archaic and people squashing economic method of trying to reign him in (which doesn’t even work). Instead of complaining about Pyongyang’s holdings why not look at how you might build bridges with everyday people in countries afflicted by a dictatorship. Mining technology and self-banking could help people make money and build the strength they need to oppose dictators.

Alternatively, the west can keep starving the people and hope it makes them angry enough to foster a revolution. I can’t even be bothered to go into the fact that Un presumably has a much more considerable amount of smuggling-related fiat currency, because well, that’s not a headline. Obviously.

Positive news has been stretched thin during the “Crypto Winter,” but there are now genuine signs that the ice is beginning to thaw. With Bitcoin showing remarkable resiliency and price stability in a world that wants to write it off, there are many fundamentals to which believers in the world’s largest cryptocurrency like to pay attention. One of these metrics just went through the roof.

The SFOX Crypto Volatility Report: February 2019 was released today, and in this report, analysts try to gauge the health of crypto markets by looking at the following three metrics: price momentum, market sentiment, and the continued advancement of the sector. The report on Thursday ultimately concluded a bullish outlook in general for the cryptocurrency sector.

Celebrity Endorsements Shouldn’t Matter to Crypto Investors

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Noting first of all that a significant amount of help from high-profile individuals supported prices across the board, the firm wrote:

“Some of the ‘hype’ that we mentioned was absent from the month of January appeared to resurface in February amidst pro-crypto statements from tech personalities (e.g., Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey) and crypto pundits ‘calling the bottom’ of Crypto Winter.”

I hate when celebrity endorsement is considered a fundamental (I’m aware SFOX is noting this to explain volatility, so I’m not attacking them here). No one knows what individual celebrity agendas are or aren’t. If there is one thing that investors should have learned it’s that hype in cryptocurrency has a considerable bearing on price movements, but they are nearly always temporary – especially in the thin and illiquid environment currently faced by even the biggest of the cryptos.

A kind word here and there is beneficial for a price deviation and usually nothing more. You could write a book about avoiding media hype in investments, but my favorite example was the Ripple (XRP) debacle on CNBC, and they are still at it. I’m not hating on Ripple; I’m hating on the hype that hurts retail buyers.

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If you ever feel your adrenaline pumping from a celebrity price forecast, calm down. You need something concrete to base your hopes on, not a throwaway comment from an exhausted-looking Elon Musk.

Bitcoin Transactions Increase, Likely Supporting BTC Price

Now down to the good stuff. In the same report, there is some tremendous news. Transactions on the Bitcoin network surged to their highest level in more than a year,

“There were also more fundamental reasons to have a positive outlook on the market: transactions on the Bitcoin network were at the highest level since January 2018.”

Great stuff. Usage has and always will be the best bullish or bearish argument for any cryptocurrency. Inherent value and liquidity all rise from this point. I could leave it there and say “Winter Over,” but that would be immature and premature. What I will say is that the transaction rate bouncing back is ultimately tremendous. With media coverage so low in the mainstream, this is an indicator of how sticky interest is in Bitcoin despite Google searches collapsing from their highs.

Can’t Ignore the ETF in the Room

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Not excited about the prospect of a Bitcoin ETF? SFOX believe you might be in the minority, as there is evidence that this headline continues to generate substantial buying appetite in the market.

“Even while some factions within the crypto sector question the significance and utility of a Bitcoin ETF, the market still seems to be fairly responsive to news about its potential: in the two days surrounding this news, the price of BTC climbed over 7%.”

If you are a trader, not an investor, it’s almost impossible to ignore stuff like this. The market will dictate to you the reality in the short term, and so trying to fight trends like this because you “don’t care” or “it’s irrelevant” is a dangerous game to play. Instead, it’s usually better to try and find reasons why the market might be right. In this case, it seems probable that big, smart money views the ETF as another step towards broader adoption which might increase crypto usage.

70% of CNBC readers say they would invest in a Bitcoin ETF. Photo from CNBC.

Usage Remains the Best Hope of Surviving Crypto Winter

Ultimately, with the price of BTC/USD bumping along near the $4,000 level, fancy price forecasts are a dime a dozen. What makes SFOX’s report valuable is that they give us something concrete to look at rather than just hopes and dreams. Building your house on the rocks and not the sand is essential – especially if you want to survive the winter storms.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, CCN.

Ripple Work Environment Now List-Worthy

If anyone was still living under the illusion that working in blockchain or cryptocurrency meant sacrificing the quality of your work life, you might have finally been convinced otherwise. “Great Place to Work” named payment system Ripple as the 17th best place to work in Silicon Valley among small to medium-sized business. Shout out to Roblox at number 16. Now, I’m aware that Ripple is a controversial project and XRP is not technically a cryptocurrency in many people’s eyes, but this is an impressive achievement given how competitive the Bay area is. In a bid to lure the best talent and cater to highly-qualified millennials, firms in Silicon Valley will offer everything from a bus to pick you up from your house, to free lunches and all manner of games and fun activities to pursue. Ripple certainly has an eloquent CEO at the helm.

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Clear Sense of Mission Defines XRP Project

Ripple is a great place to work and that can only be good press for other Blockchain ventures | Source: Shutterstock

So what is it precisely that employees enjoy about working at Ripple that warrants a place on this list? It appears that much like other digital currency projects, the mission of developing and fostering adoption is driving the company forward. In the words of a satisfied worker:

“I’ve never before been at a company where everyone has a clear sense of mission, and what the shared goal is. That is obvious from day one. I also love my co-workers, and they make me happy to come to work every day (along with the work itself).”

Ok, I assumed the adoption part. That quote couldn’t have been more generic if it wore a polo shirt. Dig a little deeper into the ranking, and it does start to look like the survey is a bit redundant. According to the report, 91 percent of employees are happy to work at Ripple. The company has 255 employees in the US, and 95 percent of them are proud to say they work at the company. 96 percent of them are happy with their time off.

With all these happy, satisfied people how is Ripple only ranked number 17? Well, to crack the top 10 Ripple would have needed a 95 percent happiness rating on more than 400 people.

The number one best place to work for a small or medium company in the Bay area, Asana, has a 99% happiness rating among roughly 240 employees. My point here is I’m skeptical of reviews where everyone self-reports that they are happy. The differences are too negligible to make rankings any more than deeply subjective or borderline random.

Ripple Attention is Fine, but Salute the Real Heroes

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Ultimately, Ripple getting acclaim is probably good for cryptocurrency. There is still a widespread misconception about what it is. Because most people believe XRP and Bitcoin are blockchain bedfellows, then seeing it as a credible place to work has to be a good thing for the industry.

The only concern is that top talent might leave decentralized projects to work at places like Ripple; the search for a consistent paycheck or corporate benefits might prove too alluring. Let just hope enough gifted people don’t leave other essential projects neglected. It has been a big few weeks for XRP after finally getting listed on Coinbase Pro, and credit to them for making a decent work environment for their employees. I’d certainly rather work for Ripple than for JPM Coin.